Castles Made of Sand
by hippiecrack
Summary: All Tovah ever wanted was the surf and the sand, she never expected that her California home would give her anything more than that.
1. Chapter 1

It was all so close to being over, it was senior year, and that meant good-bye high school and hello summer vacation. Sure she was alright at school, she got good grades, and pleased her Mom, but Tovah could have cared less about school. All she cared about was the call of the ocean, and a good Hendrix song. The winter months meant a good swell but the water was cold, but to surf the cove you had to be tough. And if being tough meant surfing in 45-degree waters, she would do it, and she did. The only female surfer Skip Engblom let on his surf team in '74, the only girl Skip would even think of letting surf the pier.

Chilly morning air wafted through the open window, stinging the bare skin on her arm. The morning breeze, that's all it took to wake her up, every morning, that same cool breeze. That cool breeze that told her it was time to surf. Everyone is born for something, something you were made to do. Well this girl in particular, was born to surf, to be one with the ocean, it's how she has always been, and who she always will be. Sometimes she even swears that she has the salty ocean water rushing through her veins.

Tovah got up, eyes half open, blindly skimming the floor with her toes in search for her wetsuit, when she finally found it she threw it onto her bed and looked for her bathing suit. One thing Tovah could never understand was how she could wear something everyday but still manage to lose it. Once the bathing suit was found, Tovah slipped on the slightly damp wetsuit over top of it. Grabbing her board she managed to quietly slip through the hallways of her home, 'cause fuck, if Tovah got caught going out surfing again she'd be in a load of shit. Once Tovah was outside she hopped onto her cream colored cruiser making her daily trip down to the Pacific Ocean Park Pier. She rolled into the pier and saw that the boys were already there.

"Hey guys, how's it lookin'?"

"It's lookin' real good right about now," Jay Adams, little baby fourteen year old Jay boy, although you would never know how young he really is by the way he acts, but no matter how he acted he'll always be little baby Jay to her

"Oh yeah Jay baby? Well, you're still a couple years too young, so keep dreaming," Tovah said while rolling her eyes at him

"Yo Jay boy you've been trying for three years now, give it up. But Tovah, how about me and you take a little trip underneath our wetsuits and make some of our own waves," Tony Alva, there are only so many thing you can say about Tony. Well, what can be said is that he is not a bad lay, because that would be a lie. Because if there is one place that Tony has expertise in, it's in sex.

"Come on dudes it's like five in the morning, can you at least keep your dicks away until the afternoon." Tovah looked over at Stacy who had yet to say a word, but was blankly staring off into the ocean, watching the waves ride out. "Hey Stace, how's it looking today?"

"It's looking way better than yesterday Tov, but anything is better than the ankle busters we've been seeing lately," Stacy Peralta, such a sweetheart with his never fading pink flush in cheeks. Totally levelheaded, has a job, and he wears a watch for Christ's sake. But that's our Stacy.

"Hey you little grommets, you wanna surf or what?"

Skip Engblom had just come out from the water after completing a successful, almost perfect ride. He came striding up to them with freshly lit cigarette in between his lips. They all nodded their heads just hoping that he would just let the group go out and shred today without having to work.

"Well, then you little maggots get to work, you have to earn the right to surf the cove."

Every time, every time they came to the pier they had to work. Skip and his friends swore they owned the pier, if they even gave her a chance Tovah could surf circles around those burnouts. Stacy and Tovah were in the bone yard catching the guys' boards after they had wiped out, Jay was out on trash duty, and Tony had to keep it local, by kicking out any Val's trying to come to the POP.

"You know what song I am so sick of hearing on the radio?" Stacy said to Tovah as they stood underneath the broken down pier.

"No, and you better not say bohemian rhapsody by Queen or else I might have to slap you," she said to Stacy

"Nah dude, Mandy, every time I turn on the radio, it's Barry Manilow," Stacy huffed

"Yeah dude I guess you're right, but anything is better than that Streisand shit," She smiled and then began to sing "Memories, like the corners of my mind, misty watercolor memories, of the way we were!"

"Jesus Tov, shut up, you sing like you skate, and that's not a good thing," Tovah shot Stacy a dirty look, and splashed him with the salty ocean water. Truth be told Tovah defiantly wasn't a good skater, hell, baby Sid was probably better than her. After being splashed Stacy smirked at Tovah and began to tickle her over the wet suit. If there was one thing that Tovah hated, it was being tickled. Almost everyone knew it, if you lived in Venice you knew not to even think about tickling Tovah.

"All right! Stace, quit it!" Tovah said in between breaks in her uncontrollable laughter

Stace backed up with a smile on his face, his cheeks even pinker than normal from laughing so much, but this calm period didn't last for too long. Tovah jumped onto Stacy's back knocking him down into the water successfully, but Stacey had grabbed her around the back of her knees and through her over his shoulder, causing her too laugh even more than before.

"All right you little gremlins, get out there and show us what you got," Skipped yelled to them as he came out from the ocean.

Excitedly all three of them grabbed there boards and paddled out into the cool ocean water, right into the heavies. For a bit the four of them just sat on there boards, just hoping for a good set, and then it came it was like a perfect swell.

"Yo guys, I got the first of this wave, I'll try not to show you guys up too much, but I'm not making any promises,"

Tovah paddled hard for this upcoming wave, Once everything was set up right for her she popped up onto her feet, and felt that rush she had being looking forward to since she put her suit on. Tovah had been surfing since she was twelve, she started out going out with her dad, and once he left she kept doing it by herself. She could shred no doubt about it, and no one denied it. It was a rare occasion to see her eat it, but when she did, she wiped out hard. But today she was in her element, the ocean called to her and she answered back. Today, her ride was almost perfect; she shredded the wave like it was nothing.

"Girly, like always you are off the ritcher, good ride toe jam," Skip congratulated her quietly.

Toe jam, probably the worst nickname ever to be given to anyone. But that's what Skip called her: Toe jam. Tovah sat on the shore to watch the guys ride, first to ride the swell was Jay, and then it was Tony. There rides were good they defiantly got to ride a good set, then there was Stacy. Tovah, Jay, and Tony anxiously sat on shore waiting for Stacy to pick his wave. Once he got it he started out fairly well, but once he had popped up to stand, he bailed, and he bailed out hard. Once Stacey was back on shore he perched his board into the sand, Tony and Jay heckled him for a bit, just messing around with him as did Skip and the other guys. While Tovah was looking at him she noticed something. She walked up to him, and looked at his forehead, yep, he was bleeding.

"Yo Stace, I think you wiped out a little hard, there" she said while she put her finger up to his head "I have antiseptic on my bike, you want me to clean you up man?"

Tovah tended to keep things like antiseptic and bandaids in the basket on her bike, when you have friends that surf and skate, it's almost necessary. And although some of her friends messed with her about it, in the end they were all happy that she did.

"Uh, yeah sure Tovah," The two of them walked over to her bike and Stacey sat down on the sand "Tovah my ride was really bad today, huh?" He said solemnly

"Stace, come on bro, we all have bad rides, don't get too down about it," She said while dabbing a cotton ball with antiseptic on it on his forehead.

"Yeah but, for the past couple days my rides just haven't been good," He said wincing a little

"You worry too much Stace, you** are **a good surfer, you know that if you weren't, I wouldn't say that you are," she said smiling at him "All right man, you're good," Tovah held out her hand to help Stacy up, but ended up on the ground next to him after he had pulled her down with him "Oh really Stacy? Is that how you are going to treat the girl who just cleaned off your battle wound?" she said laughing as sand filled her dark curly hair.

"Stacy?" Tovah said lying back in the sand with her eyes closed

"Yeah?"

"I wish I could just surf for the rest of my life, you know? Like just go all over the world and surf like Mike Hynson and Robert August,"

"Don't we all Tovah, don't we all," He said looking out at the rising sun "But once June hits, we've got a pretty bitchin' summer coming our way, we'll be out of high school and doing our own thing,"

"You know what Stace, you're right this is our year, we're going to make shit happen this year," Tovah said as she sat up in excitement making her curly brown locks fly everywhere

"What do you mean?" Stacy said looking at her curiously

"I don't really know man, but I just have a feeling in my bones that something is going to happen, something big," with that Tovah lazily placed her head on Stacey's shoulder and stared out at the rising sun


	2. Chapter 2

Slowly peddling her way down the Venice streets in a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt and a pair of acid washed jean shorts, Tovah actually took in the view of the place she called home for the first time in a while. Sometimes you just got so used to seeing the same buildings, graffiti, and people it all became mundane. But if you looked, I mean really looked you could find some specials things in this place some call Dogtown. 

"Hey baby, how about you hop off that bike and take a ride on me instead!" Wentzle yelled and completely took Tovah out of her daze, and thank god that he did or she would have ridden right past the Zephyr shop.

"Hey Wentzle, how about you take a ride on this," Tovah said with a smile as she walked past him into the shop with her middle finger up in the air

"Well, if it isn't everyone's favorite surf bunny, toe jam," Stecyk said once Tovah had walked through the door

Tovah rolled her eyes at the photographer and hopped onto the counter "So where's Skip and Jeff? They leave you here to man the fort?"

"Nah those two are in the back toking up, I already waked and baked so I think I'll be flying for a quite some time," Stecyk said with a lazy high smile on his face 

Tovah laughed finally noticing the red glassy appearance of his eyes, if there was anything that she approved of that these guys did, it was smoking. Because when you smoke you don't become aggressive, or angry, you just get relaxed and you chill. And trust me when Skip Engblom drinks he gets a bit feisty. With a smile on her face Tovah looked around the shop, it was clean, for the most part, although it's employees weren't the most friendly of people. They gave her, and her friends somewhere to chill during the weekends, and after school so it was all right with her. 

"Toe jam, today is your lucky day!" Skip said to Tovah as he came walking out from the back room

"Oh yeah? Why's that Skip?"

"Today, is the day, you learn to roll a perfect blunt,"

Laughing harder than she had a Stecyk, Tovah just looked at Skip and shook her head "Skip, I've known how to roll the perfect blunt since I was 15, so I guess today isn't too lucky now is it?"

"I always knew you were a lady toe, only a lady could carve a wave like you do," Skip said as he began to mix his orange drink for the day

"My ass, if Tovah is a lady than I am a fucking duke or somethin," Jay came busting through the doors of the Zephyr shop talking loudly. Jay strode up to the counter lifting Tovah off of it by grabbing her hips and placing her on the ground next to him.

Tovah looked up at Jay and said: "What I am some fucking doll you can just throw around, who do you think you are coming in here and taking me of my throne? I am a lady after all,"

"Yeah you sure are a lady, my lady, my _little _lady," Jay laughed putting an emphasis on the word little

"In your dreams Jay baby, in your dreams, and don't call me little you punk," Tovah said turning her back to Jay. Yeah fine, she was short, five feet three inches if were going to be exact.

"You wanna know what happens in my dreams Tov?" Jay came up behind her and began to grind his hips against her rear and then whispered in her ear "This is pretty much it except in my dreams we're both naked and you are great at sucking cock, but something's we can only dream about, right?"

Tovah laughed as she tried to get away from Jay "Jay boy! You nasty son of a bitch, and you know that I give great head!"

"I don't think Jay would know, but I sure do know for a fact that you do give great head," Tony said as he winked at Tovah and walked into the shop, curly hair resting haphazardly on his head.

"Quit it! You horny little freaks, where the hell is everyone else?" Skip said from his position behind the counter 

Jay shrugged his shoulders, and Tovah took this opportunity to get out of Jay's arms and make her way back onto the top of the counter. About five minutes or so passed and the rest of Dogtown crew showed up. Well everyone except for Stacy, he had work today, still trying to save up for that car. 

"Listen up you little maggots, there is a skating competition in one month, so I am going to need all of you to be on top of your game at Del Mar. So were gonna have practice everyday after school, and you all better show up," 

After Skip had said all of this he began to pass out shirts, navy blue shirts with the words Zephyr on the front. Tovah wasn't a skater, never had been, and probably never will be. The ocean was her home, not the concrete, but she defiantly appreciated the dedication it took to skate, but it just wasn't for her. 

"Hey Tovah, since you can't skate for shit are you gonna be are cheerleader, you don't even need a skirt or nothing, you can just come to the competitions naked and jump around!" Biniak said loudly while Jay patted him on the back

"Biniak shut the hell up, and nothing wants to be naked around you," Peggy Oki, my girl, literally my only girl. Of course there are other girls in Dogtown they just aren't the crowd I found myself hanging out with. Peggy is the only girl in town who will actually surf with me, and she is one of the only girls I can actually tolerate in this town.

"We got you guys one more thing," Skip said interrupting the small talk that was happening between everyone. With his foot he pushed forward a cardboard box, Tovah tried to take a look inside but he has moved it away too quickly. Skip reached his arm into the box and pulled out a brand new skateboard equipped with urethane wheels. 

All at once everyone jumped up from where they were seated and grabbed at the boards mercilessly, Tovah was almost positive that Biniak got slapped at one point or another. Tovah looked into the box seeing if there was one left for Stacy since he was at work, she looked down into and saw nothing. She looked over at Jay sending him a concerned look, hopping of the counter she walked over to Jay and whispered in his ear

"Jay you don't think that Stace didn't make it on the team, do you?"

Jay just lightly pushed her out of the shop while he stayed behind and said something to Skip that she couldn't make out from outside. She really hoped that Stacey would make it onto the team, he was so excited when he had heard that Skip was thinking about putting a skate team together, she knew it would crush him if he hadn't made it. Once she heard the door open Tovah looked over to see Jay with a somber look on his face, and he just shook his head. 

"You can't be serious? Stace is a pretty decent skater, I mean c'mon if Sid made it why didn't Stacy?" Tovah asked Jay as she got on her bike and began to ride down the street

On his skateboard Jay began to slowly ride next to her "I don't fucking know Tov, and don't worry about it, Stacy is a big boy he'll be able to handle it," Jay looked over at her still seeing that same look in her eyes, she felt bad for Stacy.

Yo, everyone is coming to my house right now so come over and just stop worrying about Stace, he'll be fine,"

"Jay you know I would, but I kind of told my Mom I'd be in early tonight, she said she had something to show me or something like that,"

"No it's cool, i'll see you later," 

Jay turned corner onto his street as Tovah kept riding straight to get home, sometimes Jay could be really confusing, one minute is sensitive, nice, and understanding, and then a second later he is normal, cocky, horny, Jay boy. But she guessed that was just something that made Jay who he was; you could never guess what he was going to do next. Once she arrived at home she pushed the bike onto the side of the house and headed inside, her house was fairly average for their area, not big, but not at all too small. Different shades of color filled every room with it's own unique light, although to some it may just seem like a run-of-the-mill house, in her eyes it was perfect. 

"Tovah is that you?" her Mom called out from one of the rooms in the house

"Yeah Mom it's me, where are you?"

"Im in my bedroom, i'll be in the kitchen in a second," 

Tovah sat down at one of the chairs in the kitchen and looked around a bit, her mom had bought bananas, sweet, she loved bananas. Suddenly she heard the chair across from her squeak, she hadn't even noticed that her Mom had walked into the room. 

"Alright Tovah, there are some things we need to discuss," Her mom said with her hands folded neatly on the table "Now, you are graduating this year, which I am so proud of by the way, but have you given any thought to your plans after high school?" For a couple seconds Tovah sat there blankly staring at her Mom's hands, she didn't know what to say. I mean sure she had thought about college but she hadn't put much though into it.

"I mean sure I've thought about it. But I can't see myself going to college next year, if that's what you're asking me,"

"Oh really Tovah? Then what are you going to do? Because I honestly do not see you going where with your surfing hobby," 

Tovah's mom hated surfing, mostly because it reminded her of her ex-husband, and also because once Tovah started to surf, she stopped doing beauty pageants. Yes, beauty pageants, full glitz from the moment she popped out of the womb. Her mom loved it, getting to dress her up in frilly little dresses, and make her look like a bonafide Barbie doll was one of her mom's favorite things. That was, until Tovah picked up a surf board for the first time, after that her pageant life was over. 

"Jesus Tovah, with pageants you had a future ahead of you! You could have been Miss America for Christ sake, now look at you!" her mom said while slamming her palms down on the table

"Yeah look at me! I am happy, happier than I ever was when I was strutting my ass across a stage for those nobody judges!"

"You watch your fucking tone with me Tovah, because I will send you right to San Francisco with your good for nothing dad,"

"Yeah right, you would never give him the satisfaction of having type of contact with me," right there she hit a nerve with her Mom

"Tovah I am sick of your attitude, sometimes I swear you don't appreciate the things I do for you!" tantrums, her Mom was full of them

"The things you do for me? You don't do shit for me MaryAnne! All the money you get is from Bubby and Saba, and all you do with that money is spend it on bullshit stuff we don't need. Like that new couch you bought, why the hell did we need that, the old one was fine! We live in fucking Dogtown Mom, stop trying to make yourself feel like you live somewhere else!" 

With that Tovah got up and left the house, they fought often and it usually resulted in Tovah storming out of the house and going to the beach. And that's exactly what she did, she grabbed her board and hopped on her bike and rode towards the beach. The sun was starting to set so the air was getting cooler, and of course Tovah hadn't brought a jacket and was still wearing the same T-shirt and shorts she had been earlier. Once she reached the beach she hastily threw her bike onto the sand, not noticing the person sitting on the cool sand as she headed towards the water.


	3. Chapter 3

Never in her life had she rushed a wave so hard, there was absolutely no thought process when it came to her and the waves during that ride, which was until she bailed, and bailed out hard. Her board came crashing down after her body had hit the water, for a bit she couldn't even comprehend what had just happened, but she began to kick her way to the surface dumbfounded at what had just happened. After retrieving her board she slowly made her way back to the shore and sat down right where the water met the shore. 

"You crashed pretty hard out there babe, something wrong?" Tovah didn't even have to turn around to know who that voice belonged to

"Yeah, so you saw that? How long have you been here JB?"

"Yeah girl I've been here I even saw you when you first got here, you just didn't notice me, you were way to focused on your waves," Jay said as he took a seat right next to her in the sand

Tovah looked around for his board or some reason why he would be at the beach "What are you here for? You don't have your board or anything,"

"Just some shit going on right now, ya know? What had you surfing so hard out there?"

"Same here man, just some shit going on at home," 

For a minute or so they just sat on the sand in silence watching the waves crash in and out. The sun was starting to set but there was literally no breeze so it was actually decently warm out there. As the sat on the sand Tovah felt something sliding down her forehead, and that something would be blood. 

"Shit, I knew my board hit me on the way down," she said while bringing her hand up to her head. 

Tovah got up and made her way over to her bike, she grabbed the first aid kit out of it and opened it up, she shuffled through the contents of it searching for a cotton ball or even a tissue to clean her head off with. Before she could even close the case in defeat she felt damp fabric bring pressed against her head, Jay had taken his shirt of and soaked it in the ocean to clean her up. Tovah closed her eyes and just let Jay do whatever it is that he was, it was a pleasant change to have someone else fixing her up instead of the other way around. 

"Donnie left my mom," he said curtly, his voice cracking half way through the statement 

Her eyes shot open at the tone of his voice; Jay's lovely green eyes had the slightest trace of tears resting in them. She gently took the shirt out of his hands and brought him down to sit in the sand, she guided his head to her bare shoulder and began to run her fingers through his sun bleached tresses. 

"I don't even fucking know why!" Jay started to speak loudly "He loved her, we all know that he did, they were in fucking love Tovah," with every word Tovah could feel her shoulder getting wetter " You just don't leave the people you fucking love Tovah, you just don't fucking do that," his voice cracked with every word he said 

"Jay," Tovah whispered then paused "you know your mom is strong, and you know that you have to be there to back her up, fuck Donnie. If he wants to go, let him," 

She spoke so softly she wouldn't have been surprised if Jay didn't hear her at all; it was hard to know how to act around Jay when he was like this. For as long as she had known Jay she has never seen him cry, and for the second time that day they just sat in silence with one another. Tovah looked down at Jay to see that he had his eyes closed and was drawing blindly in the sand, just making lazy patterns with his fingers. And although the silence was comforting it didn't last for too long, Jay had pinned her on her back as he grinned crazily above her. Tovah smiled lazily back up at him just glad to see he was just feeling the tiniest bit better. Suddenly Jay had placed the tiniest kiss onto Tovah's lips, he pulled way still grinning like an idiot. Tovah looked at him directly in the eyes and gently placed her palm on his cheek and kissed him back just as gently as he had. 

"Jay go home, if there was ever a time when Philaine needed you it's now," 

Tovah got up slowly, and Jay followed right behind her but before she even got anywhere near her bike Jay had grabbed her hand and pulled her back in for another kiss. Out of all the kisses Tovah had ever received in her seventeen years of living never had she experienced a kiss as innocent as this one. No tongue was used, they were just sweet, gentle kisses, and from Jay Adams no less, but the funny things is they still left her breathless. That was until Jay took her bottom lip in between his teeth and pulled softly, Tovah let the tiniest moan escape her mouth before Jay pulled back and looked at her. 

"So am I still only gonna ever have sex with you in my dreams?" he said mocking her

"We'll see Jay, but it's not gonna happen today, go home," with that being said she pushed him forward towards his skateboard. 

Jay winked at Tovah right before he rolled off onto the street back to his house, Tovah just stood there with her curly hair blowing in the wind as she watched him roll slowly down the street. A small smile ghosted upon Tovah lips as she stood there with her back turned from the water, Jay was a fucking mystery on legs, there was no way that you were going to be able to understand him unless you could read his mind. Tovah walked over to grab her board and then hopped on her bike, the sun had set but she wasn't trying to go home anytime soon, Stacy, he was probably still at work, so the Old Venice Noodle Company was her destination. Tovah perched her bike on the front wall of the Old Venice Noodle Company so that if anyone tried to steal her bike, which happened quite often, she would see them. The little bell on top of the door chimed when she pulled open the door do the little restaurant, the first thing she saw was Stacy bussing tables very slowly, totally zoned out. 

"Yo Stace! At that pace you're never gonna get outta here," Tovah teased as she made her way to sit at one of the empty tables

Stacy smiled "And no matter how late I stay I'm still not getting overtime," he sat down in front of her placing his elbows on the table with his rag that he used to clean tables over his shoulder "What brings you to ye Old Venice Noodle?"

Tovah wrinkled up her nose in laughter "Nothing really, just bored, I just got done surfing and I really didn't feel like going home," 

Stacy gave her a look; a look she knew all too well, he knew something else was up "So you are your mom are fighting again?" She didn't even have to answer him she just looked down and started inspecting her fingers as if they were the most interesting things in the world "What happened this time? She brought up the pageants didn't she? Just don't let her get to you Tov, fuck pageants, you're a fucking radical surfer," 

Tovah looked up at Stacy and smiled "Yeah dude I know, it's just that I wish she understood how much it meant to me, surfing is my passion, not beauty pageants, I just want her to see how happy it makes me,"

"She will one day Tovah, and if she doesn't then it's not for you to worry about, she's the one that's missing out, not you," with that Stacy got up and started to clean the rest of the empty tables. "Hey Tov, I gotta go back and wash dishes you can leave if you want, or you can just chill here until I'm done, it's whatever you wanna do,"

"Stace you know I love washin' dishes, it's time to get elbow deep in suds bro," Tovah said as she got up from her seat and began to head into the back of the restaurant

They both stood there washing dishes talking about absolutely nothing important, occasionally making fun of each other and throwing bubbles in each other's face.

"So Stace, you and Kathy Alva huh?" Tovah said while flicking some bubbles off of her fingers onto his face, his face began to turn pink in color as he began to scrub the dishes harder. "Oh c'mon Stacy, tell me! What's up with you guys, because apparently at bicknell hill you guys were getting real cozy, but that's just what I heard," she said with a sly smile on her face

"Shut up Tovah," Stacy mumbled as he continued to scrub away at the dew plates that were left in the large sink. Tovah threw her head back as she let out a loud roar of laughter, while she was wiping the few tears left behind from laughter Stacy wrung out a sopping wet towel right over her head.

"Peralta you are fucking history dude!" Tovah quickly slipped behind Stacy and kicked him in the pressure point right in between his knee so his knee buckled and he feel onto the wet ground 

Both seventeen year-olds laughed loudly inside the kitchen of the Venice Noodle they were surprised no one heard them. After Stace got off the ground they finished the dishes and head out front to their bikes, luckily Tovah's bike was still there, as well as her board. The two of them peddled down the fluorescent-lit streets together until it was time for them to part ways. 

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, right?" Stacy asked

"As if I would miss I chance to surf Peralta, see you bright and early sunshine," 

Once Tovah arrived at her house she put the bike away, and headed inside with her board in hand hoping that her mom wasn't in the main room of the house. She slowly crept inside with her eyes closed because maybe if she couldn't see her mom, her mom couldn't see her. Once she closed the door she slowly opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that her mom wasn't sitting on the couch. As she made her way to her room she heard her mom talking and she couldn't have been on the phone because the only phone is in the kitchen, so after placing her board in her room she silently stepped down the hallway until she reached her mom's room. The door was cracked just a bit and Tovah saw her mom sitting on the bed look through old photo albums, and she knew exactly which one that was, the pageant album. 

"My little Tovah _used _to be so pretty, so elegant, I wish I could bring that little girl back, my _beautiful_ little girl," MaryAnne said to herself not knowing that Tovah was outside of the door listening "She really could have been something, we could have left this shit-hole of a town, she would have never met those friends of hers and everything would be so much better. God she really_ was_a beautiful girl, but things change, don't they?" 

Tovah made her way back to her room not wanting to hear anything else her mother had to say about her, or her friends. She slowly pushed her door closed so it clicked shut silently, dragging her feet across the shag carpeting she made her way over to the mirror that hung on her wall. Staring at herself, she noticed that her eyes had watered up a bit; she swiftly wiped them away this was not something she was going to let herself cry about. She inspected herself in the mirror: mid-length curly brown hair, that had some blonde in it because of the surf and the sun, it fell down to her mid back in frizzy ringlets. Brown eyes, quite a bit of freckles across her nose and a few on her cheeks, pretty fucking tan from all the surfing. Then she reached her mid section, alright she wasn't a stick like every other girl, but she certainty wasn't fat, she was a healthy looking girl, and she could sure out eat you, and she kept fit from surfing. She didn't even care to criticize her chest she was a proud 34 C, and would knock out anyone who said anything about it. But I guess in comparison to her five foot nine, Latin queen of a Mother anyone could look frumpy. Tovah didn't let herself dwell on it, as long as she was happy with herself it didn't matter what her mom thought or anyone else for that matter. So with that Tovah showered and changed for bed getting ready for tomorrow mornings swell and whatever else came with it.


	4. Chapter 4

After surfing and school that day, Tovah found herself lying on the shagged carpeted floor of her living room listening to the powerful voice of Billie Holiday, accompanied by the sound of the needle dragging against the vinyl record. Her brown sun bleached hair was fanned out behind her and her eyes were closed, she was just soaking in the music. If there was one guilty pleasure that Tovah loved to indulge in, it was jazz, she could listen to it for hours and never get sick of it. Sure she loved jamming out to Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Zeppelin, but she preferred the sweet sounds of jazz to all other genres of music. The ocean and a good jazz record could get Tovah through almost anything, it's what got her through the devastation of her dad leaving her, and it got her through every fight her and mother had (and continue to have). And as quickly as the alluring peace had settled into her home, it has left just as quickly if not quicker. 

"Sometimes I still can't believe you listen to this trash," A voice said, as the stranger gladly welcomed themselves into her home "And Edith Pee-pea-whatever, you don't even speak French you freak," 

Jay Adams, but he wasn't alone because there were another pair of feet (possibly two pairs of feet) making their way into her kitchen. Tiredly Tovah peeked one eye open to see Jay hovering over her record collection looking for something that he would find suitable to listen to. Once Jay lifted the needle of the record Tovah sighed heavily knowing that all hopes of relaxation were over, the boys were here and it was no longer "me time", it was "we time". 

"So what the fuck are we doing tonight? It's Friday, it's almost seven and I am still sober," said Tony's muffled voice as he raided her fridge

"Don't you guys have that skateboarding competition in Del Mar tomorrow?" Tovah said as she propped herself up on her elbows

"So what?" Jay said as he still sifted through the pile of records "Holy fucking shit Tovah, is there anything here that isn't classical music bullshit,"

"Jay, you know my records are upstairs, all of these are my mom's," she said while she rolled her eyes "And I mean, shouldn't you guys be resting up? Tomorrow is a pretty big deal, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so, but what are you our mom now Tove?" Tony snorted "Shouldn't you be resting up," he mocked in the highest falsetto he could manage

"Alright fuck you Tony, I'm just sayin' if you guys fuck up tomorrow Skip is gonna have both of your asses served up on a plate,"

"We ain't gonna fuck up, now if it was you skating tomorrow I'd be worried, but you're not so chill Tovah girl," Tony said as he flopped onto the burnt orange couch with an apple in his hand

"Yeah Tovah calm the fuck down, why are you so tense, is all the sexual tension between us? Because that can be easily fixed," Jay said this

"Shut up JB, no one wants your pencil dick anywhere near them," Tony said as he threw the core of his apple at Jay's head

"Oh yeah? That's not what you were sayin' last night!" Jay said has he thrusted his pelvis in Tony's direction making crude faces "Oh yeah Jay baby, right there, oh baby, yeah, yeah,"

"Jay that might be the single most homosexual act I've ever seen from anyone," Stacy said as he emerged from the kitchen empty handed

"Whatever. But seriously, what the fuck are we doing tonight? I'm tryna get motha' fuckin' trashed!" Jay exclaimed as he jumped onto the back of the couch, and sat that perched like a big crazy blonde bird

"Jay you are speakin' my language right now bro, lets go back to my place, invite some people over and get wrecked," Tony said as he pushed Jay off the back of the couch "You two up for that, or are you gonna stay in and bake muffins and read Jane Austen novels?" 

Tovah quickly looked over at Stacy who looked back at her knowingly, when it came to parties Tovah was all for it, a joint and a few beers always sounded like a good time to her, but she didn't have the greatest self control. So therefore an unspoken pact was formed between her and Stacy, if Stacy was at a party with her he watched over her and made sure she was alright, and although it seem like she was just a nuisance to Stacy, sometimes it gave him something to do for the night, since he never truly partied as hard as the rest of the group. And if Stacy didn't go to a party, that ultimately meant Tovah didn't go to that party either. So Stacy gave her a small smile and a quick nod of the head, which singled all party settings were go for Tovah. 

"Yeah we're cool for tonight, but are you two, I mean are you sure you don't want to have another round of passionate sex with each other?" Tovah mocked "And kudos to you Tony, Jane Austen very educated of you,"

"Alright cool, well lemme go home make a couple phone calls and we'll get this shit started," Tony said as he hopped up from the couch "C'mon JB, we'll see these two ladies soon, but right now we got a party to set up," 

Jay got onto to his knees from his position on the floor and crawled over to Tovah, who was still sitting on the floor, he straddled her hips placing the full weight of his hips onto her's so that she could obviously feel the outline of his penis pressing against her. Then continued to lean his upper-body forward so that his chest were pressed against her. 

"I want you like this tonight, except no clothes, and drunk," Jay whispered into her with a smirk

"As I've said before Jay boy, in your dreams," Tovah whispered back to him with the smallest of smiles on her face 

Jay quickly got up off the floor and made his way over to Tony, who was messing around with the tiny glass cat figurines her mom collected. And as soon as they had both come, they were gone, and it was just Tovah and Stacy. 

"So, you and Jay?" Stacy questioned with a raised eyebrow as he made his way over to the couch

"No, not at all. So you and Kathy?" Tovah smiled up at him

"No, not at all." Stacy mocked

"Oh bullshit Stace, I know she's the only reason you're going to Tony's tonight. You wanna make sweet, sweet love to Kathy Alva." Tovah laughed and then continued "You know, she kinda looks like Tony, except with tits, is this your way of saying you like Tony?" Tovah laughed even harder throwing her head back reveling in her own jokes 

Stacy watched Tovah as she laughed, something he often found himself doing subconsciously, there was just something about the way she laughed, and honestly there was just something about her. How no matter what was going on she found something to laugh about, something joyous although everything seemed like shit. But that was also her biggest fault in his opinion, she was always hiding behind her laughter, she never truly let anyone see all of her, she never showed that weaker side of her. Stacy couldn't even recall the last time he had seen her cry, or that last time she was showed that she was genuinely hurt over something. But that was just Tovah, she had this tough outer exterior and she made people believe that's how she was. 

"So you must want Kathy pretty bad, huh? Especially if your gonna go out tonight even though you have work in the morning," Tovah said absentmindedly, as she chipped away at the navy blue nail polish that was painted haphazardly on her fingers

"Yeah, I mean, she's hot, and uh, nice and stuff," Stacy said awkwardly

"Such a way with words," Tovah smiled "But Kathy is cool, I guess. But do you think you can handle her?" Tovah said as she shifted her eyes up towards him

"Can I handle her?" Stacy questioned, "What does that even mean?"

"Kathy, I mean, she gets around, and I mean she gets _all _around Stace,"

"Are you tryna' says she's a slut? Because last time I checked your record wasn't that clean either,"

"Me!" Tovah exclaimed as she finally lifted herself off of the floor and stood above Stacy with her hands on her hips "You know for a fucking fact that I've only had sex with one guy, and that one guy would be Tony. You don't see me at parties hooking up with everything that walks through the door with two legs and a dick,"

"Oh c'mon Tovah, you're only saying this shit because you don't like Kathy," Stacy said as he rolled his eyes at Tovah

"So what? I am also sayin' this shit because I don't wanna see you getting yourself hurt, because you decided to try and get all serious with her, and all she wants is sex from you!"

"Shut up Tovah! Jesus Christ, you've always been jealous of Kathy because everyone thinks she's hotter than you, and because guys hook up with her, instead of you, because you're such a bitch all the time"

After those words came out of Stacy's mouth the entire house went silent, the clocks didn't dare tick, and all of the appliances had stopped making their noises. Tovah looked at Stacy, staring directly at his pupils unblinking, Stacy looked back at her with the same ferocity.

"Stacy get the fuck out, get the fuck out right now. Have fun with Kathy-fucking-Alva," 

Stacy got up without a word, and slammed the door behind him, making the entire house shake. Tovah looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost nine and she was still wearing the clothes she had worn to school that day, but she didn't care, she didn't have anyone to impress since everyone thought she was a "bitch" anyway. But since her shirt smelled like salt water she decided she would change that before going to Tony's, she quickly made her way upstairs and changed into a white peasant top and threw the dirty Bob Dylan t-shirt onto the ground. She made her way downstairs and left through the back door; Tony only lived about four blocks away so it was cool for her to walk there and back. By the time she had made it to end of Tony's block she could already hear music pumping out of the Alva household, and see kids on the front lawn, Tovah slowly made her way up the block to Tony's house, the entire time having a debate inside her head of whether or not she should turn around and go back home. 

"Yo, puta! Walk a little slower and the party might be over by the time you get here!" Tony yelled at her from his porch

Tovah shook her head and picked up the pace, once she had made it to the front of Tony's house the first thing she noticed was Shogo and Wentzle taking hits from a bong she had never seen before.

"Shogo is that a new one?" Tovah asked as she made her way over to the two of them

"You know it girl, Tovah, meet Shelia, meet Tovah," Shogo said as he passed the bong over to Tovah 

Tovah took the bong into her hands, lit the marijuana on fire and inhaled, after she had cleared the bong she passed it to Wentzle and walked inside and into a sea of people. It always surprised Tovah how many people Tony seemed to be able to fit inside his house, and every time she came over for a party it seemed like more, and more people were crammed inside. Tovah slowly made her way over to the fridge while surveying the group of people that had gathered inside of Tony Alva's home. It looked like everyone was here, it looked like a normal party, but it didn't feel normal, at least not for Tovah, not without Stacy. Tovah grabbed a beer out of the fridge and stared down at the canned drink, she began idly tapping her nails on the unopened tab, debating if she should drink or not. Tovah scanned the crowd again; watching people take shots, smoke cigarettes, shotgun beers, and other various party activities. 

"Toe jam, you ready for some shots girl!" 

Tovah turned her head to see Chris stumbling towards her with a handle of vodka clasped in his hands, he tripped over his own feet on his way over to her and was making his way towards the ground until, Paul came up behind him and stopped his fall. 

Paul looked up at her smiled "Hey Tovah, what's up?" 

Paul Constantineau was gorgeous, with his straight shoulder length brown hair, and that unbelievably sexy smirk that was always etched onto his lips. And don't even start with his chocolate brown eyes, those eyes, it was like someone has melted the finest European chocolate and poured it into his irises. 

"Hey Paul, uh, nothing just, hangin', you know," Tovah said as she nervously played with the ends of her hair

"Yeah, just hangin' with your unopened beer, you tryna take a couple shots?"

"It's not even your alcohols, smaul," Chris slurred as he slumped against the kitchen counter 

After Tovah and Paul had both ignored what Chris said they began pouring shots for the two of them, and as the minutes passed so did the amount of vodka in the bottle. Six shots later Tovah found herself sitting on the front porch with Paul smoking a bowl, and listening to Jimi Hendrix. 

"So, are you coming to Del Mar tomorrow?" Paul asked quite slowly as he looked Tovah in the eyes

"Yeah, I'll be there, are you nervous?" Tovah tilted her eyes towards the wooden floor of the porch trying to avoid eye contact with Paul 

Paul gingerly began twirling a piece of her curly brown hair around his pointer finger, making Tovah have to move closer to him so he wouldn't be pulling her hair. And with the lock of hair still wrapped around his finger Paul placed his lips drunkenly upon her's and Tovah kissed back with the same drunken ferocity. Tovah's hands found their way into Paul brown locks, and Paul's hands found their way to the hem of her blouse and began toying with it, slowly pulling it up exposing more of her tanned flesh. The sloppy drunk kisses continued as did the drunk touching, in any other situation Tovah would have been thrilled to be hooking up with Paul, but this didn't mean anything, the touches, the kisses, they meant nothing. So Tovah pulled away, she pushed his hands away from her body and scooted away from him, creating a small distance. 

"Mmm, Tovah baby, what are doin', c'mere," Paul mumbled as he attempted to pull her back to him 

Tovah shook her head and tried to force his hands away but he quickly placed his lips back onto hers, and took a firm grip onto her hips. Tovah was able to wriggle her feet in the perfect position, and to say the least; she kicked him where the sun don't shine, hard. Paul fell back and began muttering obscenely as he fell back onto the porch, Tovah wobbled up slowly catching her balance from the effects of the marijuana and the alcohol. Some people had started to make there way outside to grab from fresh air before going back into the crowded home, and a car had just pulled up in front of the Alva household. Tovah stared expectantly at the car and it passengers, wondering who it could possibly be since most of their friends didn't own cars, and then Kathy stepped out, and was soon followed by Stacy. She stared silently at the two, as they held each other's hands, and she watched as Stacy pulled one of his hands away to shyly push his blonde hair behind his ears, and how Kathy so confidently kissed him and ran her fingers through that beautiful blonde hair. Tovah began to feel a prickling feeling in the corners of her eyes but quickly pushed away those feelings, and now was the time she decided to leave; she was so over this party and just wanted to be home. She made her way down the porch steps, keeping her head down and walking swiftly, she just wanted to make it past Stacy and Kathy and she would be home free. 

"Oh hey Tovah!" Kathy greeted

Fuck, Tovah cursed inwardly "Hey Kath, I was just about to leave so,"

But she was cut off by Kathy "What? Why? Stay, have fun,"

"No, I'm just gonna," Once again cut off

"You're gonna what? Go home and sit in your house alone?" Kathy laughed, "The night is still young, stay," 

Tovah silently starred at Kathy for what felt like hours, that was until Tovah felt her eyelids closing slowly, and all consciousness began to slip away, she felt her knees buckle, and then darkness. 

"Cool move you guys! You know Tovah can't drink a lot, and you all fucking know that she can't smoke pot and drink all in the same night!" Stacy said angrily

"Alright bro, chill the fuck out, she's gonna be fine, Jesus Christ," Tony said as he ran his fingers through his curly hair "She's a big girl, she knows how to handle herself. And didn't you guys get into a fight today anyway?"

"Did she tell you that?" Stacy said, his tone lightening up considerably

"No, she didn't have to tell us anything. The moment she walked up to my house without you I knew something was wrong, and she was hanging with Paul all night," said Tony.

"So what'd you guys fight about?" Jay asked Stacy

Stacy sighed "Well I pretty much called her a bitch, and then said the only reason she was mad at me for being with Kathy is because people think Kathy is prettier than her,"

"Low blow dude," Jay smirked "But like what started it? Because you obviously didn't just come out and say that shit for no reason,"

"She has been gettin' on my case about Kathy ever since she found out about it. She keeps saying shit how she thinks that I can't handle a girl like Kath, and how she thinks Kathy is a, uh," Stacy glanced over at Tony "Tovah thinks Kathy is, easy,"

Tony shrugged his shoulders "Well I'm not gonna say she isn't, but that's my sister we're talkin' about so chill," 

The party at the Alva home was still in full motion, another one of their close friends with a car had driven Tovah home, and that's where she was now. The three boys were standing out on the front porch, in the chilly night air not exactly worrying about Tovah, but they were concerned. 

"Stace come inside, we can go upstairs," Kathy said as she came outside and clasped onto Stacy's hands attempting to pull him inside "Oh, hey guys," Kathy said awkwardly once she noticed that her brother and Jay were outside too

"Yeah, go upstairs _Stace_," Jay said as he made his way back inside to the party 

Tony followed suit but not forgetting to stare down Stacy as he did so, as if to warn him, if he messed around with his sister in his own house, he was a dead man. 

"Uh, Kathy I'm just gonna head home, cause you know I have Del Mar tomorrow and I wanna be at the top of my game,"

"Oh, Stacy you're so cute, but you'll do fine tomorrow, come inside with me," Kathy said as she looked up at him with her full lashes and pouty lips

"I'm serious Kath, I'm gonna head home." He said after kissing her on the cheek "I'll pick you up tomorrow?"

Kathy sighed dejectedly and nodded her head, Stacy gave her another quick kiss on the cheek and began to turn away but Kathy was not satisfied. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to her, and placed her lips onto his; into a kind of kiss only Kathy Alva could deliver.

Kathy pulled away slowly pulling slightly at his bottom lip with her teeth in a teasing manner "Good night Stacy,"

And with that she went inside, Stacy walked slowly to his car thinking deeply about many things; Del Mar, his newly budding relationship with Kathy, and an old friend. All seemed important, but would gaining one of those things be worth losing another?


	5. Chapter 5

Tovah was awoken the next morning by the sound of an incessant car horn blaring from outside, she slowly opened her eyes and took in the full force of the morning sun on her sensitive eyes. She looked down at her clothing to find out that she was still in the same thing she had worn to Tony's yesterday. "Who's fucking car horn is that, it's Saturday for Christ sake," Tovah thought. Saturday, Del Mar was on Saturday.

"Oh shit!" She yelled

Tovah swung her legs out of bed, and picked up the first pair of jeans she saw on the ground, slipped them haphazardly over her legs and rushed outside.

"Tovah you aren't wearing shoes you dipshit!" She heard Biniak scream as he shoved his head out the car window

She swiftly turned around, rushed back inside and slid a pair of flip-flops on her feet. Once she made her way outside again she got into the already overcrowded car that belonged to Skip Engblom. That's when full hangover oblivion reached her body, the loud music blasting through the car, the tone-deaf singing voices of her friends, and the overcrowded vehicle.

"Oh fuck no Tovah! No no no no!" Tony had realized that the girl was literally about to blow "Skip pull over now or you are gonna be cleaning puke out of your car"

The car skidded over to the side of the road and Tony practically pushed Tovah out of the vehicle. All the boys in the car cringed when they saw the girls back heave, and they cringed again when they saw her turn around and coyly wipe her mouth.

"You're lucky you didn't puke in here girl, because you would have been cleaning this car until it shined"

Tovah bit her cheek in order to keep any snide comments to herself because she knew anything she would say at now would just be rebuttaled with the fact that she just puked. Right then she silently vowed to herself that she would never take shots again, ever.

"So Tovah I heard about you and Paul," Wentzle said to her with a smug smile on his face

She stayed silent, this was Wentzle little game with her, he tried his hardest to get her pissed off so she would snap at him. He thought it was hilarious, she thought it was the most annoying thing in the world.

"I heard you were being a total a total prude with him," Wentzle jabbed again

All the guys treated her a little roughly, mostly because she was one of two girls that they associated with in a friend-type manner. Wentzle hadn't always treated her like this, it all really started at one of Tony's parties.

It was two years earlier, the party has been normal, everyone was drunk, and getting high, it was one of many good times in the Alva home. Tovah was listening to Stacy talk animatedly about Lynyrd Skynyrd's new song Free Bird.

"Seriously Tovah, it the perfect song! I don't understand what you don't get about it?" Stacey had a seriously love for southern rock

"You know I'm not into shit like that but, if you wanna talk music let's talk about Floyd's new song Money! I swear Dark Side of The Moon is there best album yet," Tovah smiled because she knew Stacy couldn't say anything bad about Pink Floyd

"Whatever," he mumbled taking a small sip of this drink

Just then Led Zeppelin's Over the Hill and Far Away started playing, Tovah quickly searched the room for Peggy, this was the two girls favorite song. She couldn't find her inside so she had to be outside smoking, or upstairs doing something else. Tovah was about to go search for the girl until someone tapped on her shoulder.

"Hey Tovah," It was Wentzle

"Yo dude, what's up?"

"Uh nothin', I got some quality chronic upstairs in Tony's room that's just waiting to be smoked if you're up for it,"

Seeing nothing weird about Wentzle's offer she said yes and headed upstairs with him, once you got upstairs in the Alva home all the music became muffled. They both headed into Tony's room, well it was actually Tony and Kathy's room. Tovah sat down on Tony's bed surprised that the room was even empty; usually people were always in here doing _things_. Wentzle walked over to the record player and touched the needle down onto a record, the crackling sounds filled the empty room and then the music began to play.

_I've been really tryin', baby, Tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long. And if you feel like I feel, baby, then, c'mon, oh, c'mon. Let's get it on._

"Oh fuck no" Tovah thought. She immediately began to think of ways to get out of the room as quickly as possible. "Why is this happening? Wentzle has never shown any interest in me, and this is _not_ the way to tell a girl you like her." Tovah's inner-monologue went on until Wentzle sat down next to her on the bed.

"Wentzle I don't like you like this I'm sorry!" Tovah said all in one breath

She got off the bed, shut the door behind her, and ran downstairs. That was the most awkward experience of her life, she didn't tell anyone about what happened, and she could only hope Wentzle wouldn't either out of sheer embarrassment.

Tovah grit her teeth and looked at her feet, she wasn't going to say anything to him, she tried her hardest not to give him the satisfaction of making her mad, but this might be one of those few times where she slipped.

Wentzle had just opened his mouth to make another smart comment until Skip cut him off "If you say one more dumb thing Wentzle I will throw your skinny ass out of this car and make you walk to Del Mar," With that Wentzle shut up "You little maggots need to focus on skating, not your stupid bullshit. Tovah can't skate so I don't give a shit what she does, but the rest of you better fucking rip this competition a new asshole,"

They finally pulled into a parking lot and everyone piled out of the car, Tovah hung back while everyone rushed to the front of the line, her mood just hadn't been right since yesterday, since she had her fight with Stacey. Tovah began to bite her nails as she walked to the front of the line meeting up with the Zephyr crew, they looked sort of professional, in their blue Vans, Levi's, and blue Zephyr T-shirts, they really did look like a legitimate team, honestly they looked more like a gang.

"You ready for today Tovah!" Jay yelled as he ran up behind her wrapping his arm around her shoulder

"Are you ready?" Tovah asked him seriously

"What?" That threw him off "Of course I'm ready Toe, these guys ain't got nothin' on me,"

Tovah nodded her head saying nothing

"Ignore Wentzle, he's a fuckin' douche, he's probably still pissed about you ditching him that one night,"

"So he did tell people, of course he did," Tovah thought

The team made there way over to the course, it was flat, no bumps, ridges, anything, just a flat tabletop. The entire team groaned and began to complain about the terrain, they didn't know what to do on it, it wasn't what they were used to at all.

"This is so beat!" Tony yelled, "Look at these faggots, doing handstands and shit!" Tony threw his board on the ground and sat down on the benches surrounding the course.

"Whatever man, we can work with it, we got this," Shogo said as he looked out at the guy currently riding

"Alright you little grommets, Jay is skating first, scare them. Do some shit they've never seen before, tear up this course like you would a wave and we got this shit in the bag," Skip said as he pushed Jay out onto the course

The entire Zephyr team watched intently as Jay shredded the course, he was skating harder then any of them had ever seen, he even did a couple tricks the team had never seen him do. At the end of his run he got a pretty high score, and he left the crowd, and skaters from other teams stunned. After a couple of the guys runs Tovah had wandered off, there were tons of people here it was ridiculous, she had never even realized so many people were into the skating scene around here, but apparently they were.

"Tovah get back over here you won't fucking believe this!" Peggy had found her and bad begun dragging her back over to the course

Tovah didn't believe it, Stacy was there on the course riding independently, skating better than she had ever seen him skate. He was doing really well and everyone seemed to love the longhaired independent skater with the stripped polo on.

"I can't believe that little fucker!" Jay said with a smile on his face "Who the hell knew he could skate like that?" Jay was watching him intensely you could tell it wasn't all happiness that was washing over his features, there was a little jealously there too.

"Shit, he scored higher than Tony," Someone on the Zephyr team mumbled

Stacy walked over to the Zephyr team after his run, there was a huge smiled planted on his face as his friends congratulated him, Skip even mumbled a "nice run" under his breath. It was weird not talking to him Tovah didn't even make eye contact with him, they were treating each other like strangers and it was so forced. Tovah would have loved to run over to Stacey the moment he was done his run to congratulate him, make him laugh, but they just weren't in that place right now.

"Stacy you were incredible!" Kathy had come over and wrapped her arms around Stacey "And you looked so hot out there," She said with a smirk

Blanca, Gina, and Ivana had tagged along with Kathy too, all Dogtowners that would tear your tongue out in a second if you tried to talk to their guys. The thing is though, they didn't have boyfriends, a few girls from Dogtown had staked there claim on certain Dogtowners, and although they had never hooked up with these certain men if anyone even breathed too close to them they would set them straight. Blanca was fierce about "her man" she had been obsessed with Tony since she was twelve, she even tried to learn to skateboard to impress him, she ended that hobby the moment she fell off her board and knocked one of her teeth out. Blanca and Tovah hadn't gotten along since the moment Blanca found that Tovah and Tony had sex, and what made Blanca even more furious is that they were both sober when it happened.

"Hey Tovah," Blanca said to Tovah with a sour look on her face

"What's up Blanca?" Tovah sighed, "I didn't know you were coming today,"

"Of course. Why would I miss Tony's first competition?"

Watching the two girls talk to one another was like waiting for a bomb to explode, it was all calm until it exploded. All that needed to happen was one girl needed to say something that would really tick the other one off.

"So Tovah," Blanca smirked she was about to say something that she knew would get to Tovah "I heard you and Paul were getting friendly last night,"

Tovah said nothing

"But you wouldn't even do anything with him because you only fuck other girl's guys, right?"

Tovah cracked the knuckle in her right thumb and swung her fist towards Blanca's face knocking the girl to the ground.

"I am so fucking sick of hearing about this!" Tovah screamed at Blanca "I am so sick of you! Sorry that Tony and me had sex one time and you just can't seem to get over it!" Tovah kicked Blanca in her side "You need to fucking get over yourself!"

Tovah felt herself being pulled away from everyone, she looked up to see that it was Skip pulling her away from everyone. Tovah realized that a crowd had started to form around the two and Blanca was still on the ground crying, of course she was crying, she had to create some type of show.

"You know you can't just punch that girl every time she says something you don't like," Skip said

"Well, maybe if she didn't say stupid shit all the time I wouldn't have to punch her," Tovah didn't want to talk to anyone and she especially didn't want to talk to Skip

"You can't let these little punks get to you, especially that girl, what's her name? Bianca, or whatever,"

Tovah couldn't wrap her head around why Skip would even be talking to her about this. Skip didn't get himself involved in stuff that didn't matter to him, or wouldn't affect him in a direct manner.

"Her name is Blanca. She's a bitch, and I don't let anyone get to me, I don't care what they say about me,"

"Anyway, I was talking to some guy and there's a surfing competition in Huntington Beach, all girls competition, cash prize and shit," This was Skip's motive she knew that there had to be one "You're going to enter this shit and win. Your going to use one of my boards and kids are gonna be lining up around the block to buy a Zephyr board,"

"What if I don't want to?" Tovah questioned

"Funny girly, but you're gonna enter, and you're gonna win," Skip patted her on the back awkwardly and walked away

She knew from the moment Skip said "surfing competition" that she was going to enter, she had done a couple competitions before and done pretty well, and she was hoping she could get a free board out of it from Skip. Tovah walked to the parking lot and sat on the hood of Skip's car, she didn't feel like being around anyone right now because she didn't want to talk about Blanca, Paul, or Stacey.

"You like my trophy Tove?" Jay had walked to the parking lot by himself, gold trophy in hand

"Oh yeah, it's _huge_," Tovah said rolling her eyes at Jay

"Yeah well whatever, my mom will be excited about it, I've never won a trophy before,"

Tovah frowned "I didn't mean it like that, it's cool that you won, you skated fucking good today,"

"You know you loosened one of Blanca's teeth, she'll probably have to get it pulled out. So now she'll have two missing teeth,"

Tovah chuckled a little bit at the thought of Blanca losing another tooth "Yeah well what can I say I have a mean right hook,"

Jay grabbed Tovah's chin with he pointer finger and thumb forcing her to look directly into his eyes, she averted her gaze down not wanting to look at him right now, she didn't feel like playing any of Jay's little games right now.

Jay flicked her on the forehead with his freehand "Look at me,"

Tovah locked eyes with him once again, she opened her mouth to say sometime to him and Jay took this opportunity to put his lips onto hers. Tovah gave in immediately; she was in a weird enough mood today not to care about Jay's kisses. Jay removed his hand from Tovah's chin and placed it on the back of her neck pulling her closer to him. Feeling the contact of his cold palm against her neck pulled her out of their kiss.

"Why do you always fucking do that?"

"What, make you horny?" Jay said as he brought his lips down to her neck

Tovah pushed his head away from her "No, you always randomly kiss me! Why do you do that all the time?"

"Because I want to, because I think you're sexy,"

"Well stop! It's confusing, and I don't want to fuck you so stop!"

Tovah started to get up from the hood of the car until Jay grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back "I don't want to fuck you either!" Jay yelled at her

"Find someone your own age to play these little games with JB,"

"No," Jay said simply

Once again Jay's lips connected with hers, and that was the exact moment that everyone decided it was time to go, that exact moment when everyone decided "Hey! Lets go to the parking lot". Tovah pushed Jay away from her quickly hoping that by some force up above that no one saw that, but of course they did. Of course the entire Zephyr team saw them kissing, of course Stacey saw it, and Kathy, and of course Blanca. Now not only did she have Blanca, Kathy, and Stacey to deal with, she had her entire friend base to deal with. Tovah got off the hood of the car and sat in the front seat of Skip's car, she didn't have anything to say to anyone, but god did they have stuff to say to her


	6. Chapter 6

The car ride home was unbearable. Tovah sat in the front seat and kept her eyes focused on the road the entire time. She could obviously hear the guys saying things to her from the backseat but she blocked it out. No one had asked Tovah about Blanca, Jay, Stacy, or Paul on the drive back, and even if they had asked she wouldn't have answered them. Tovah felt like she had experienced enough bullshit in the past couple days to last her an entire lifetime, maybe even two lifetimes.

"When's the surfing competition?" Tovah blurted out

"Next weekend," Skip said "Me and Jeff are gonna drive you up there, we're gonna bring a couple boards to try and sell."

"Okay," Tovah mumbled then she suddenly perked up "Are you going to give me a new board to use?" she asked excitedly

"Fuck no, a free board!" Someone yelled from the back "If she gets a free board I want one too, I surf way better than Tovah!"

"Fuck off Paul," Tony said from his place in the backseat while punching Paul in the shoulder

Skip didn't answer Tovah's question, he just kept one hand on the wheel and another one holding a cigarette in between his two fingers. Funny thing about Skip is, that he didn't hold cigarettes like most people; he pinched the stick in between his pointer finger and his thumb as if he was holding a joint. After Tovah and Skip had exchanged words the car became silent, and almost bearable to be in until someone began to tug on Tovah's hair.

"Come over," Tony whispered to her

"No," Tovah replied curtly

He pulled at a lock of her hair again "Just come over for a little bit,"

"For what?" she questioned

"A little girl-talk, we can paint each others nails, and talk about all the hot gossip," Tovah could literally hear Tony's smirk as he spoke

"Fine, but if your sister or Blanca says anything to me while I'm there I'm bailing," Tovah said "And if you pull my hair one more time I'm going to rip your dick off."

There was this one road in Dogtown that had to be the bumpiest road in America. The moment you took any type of wheel over it, it was like you were experiencing an earthquake. And in Skip's rundown car going at 50 miles per hour you thought you were going to die. Tovah gripped onto the dashboard as best as she could and waited for the shittiest ride in California to be over. Skip finally pulled up to Tony's street and skidded to a stop in front of his house. Tovah had just opened the car door when Skip started to speak to her.

"You'll get a new board for the competition," Skip stopped speaking and inhaled "But you have to get first place you want to keep it."

Tovah nodded and followed Tony into his house, she looked around quickly and didn't see Kathy or Blanca so she let out a sigh of relief and threw herself onto the Alva's couch.

"You know you loosened one of Blanca's teeth," Tony said as he pushed Tovah's feet off the couch so he could sit down "She's gonna have to get it pulled. If she keeps messing with you she might loose all her teeth before she turns 18,"

Hearing the words: 'you loosened one of Blanca's teeth' had yet to fail to put a smile on Tovah's face. She hoped that the words would keep that effect on her for a long time, and it would be an even sweeter reward to see Blanca's 30 teeth smile.

In attempt to take the topic of conversation off her she began to gush about Tony's skating at Del Mar "You skated like a mad dog today dude, you were sick."

"Yeah, skating whatever," Tony was never one to not want to talk about how good he was at something but right now he had a motive "JB and you have been getting all types of close."

"No we haven't," Tovah huffed "First of all he is 13, and I am 17. And he just does this weird thing where he gets all kissy and shit,"

Tony started to laugh at Tovah's frustrated face "Tovah-girl, Jay has been after you since he first saw you surf the cove, which was a long ass time ago." Tony began to laugh again after he had spoken

"Well, tell him to stop!" Tovah pushed Tony's shoulder in attempt to get him to stop laughing but he didn't. "There are probably tons of girls his own age willing to do whatever it is that he wants to do!" she pushed her hair behind her ear aggressively "And I'm sure there are tons of girls our age who are more than willing,"

Tony began to wipe tears from his unappreciated laughter away from his eyes, and he was still chuckling a little bit. Tovah glared at him with all the malice she could muster at the time, and put her feet up on the Alva's small table in their living room.

"Quitar tu pies de mi mesa chica," Tony's mom had just come walking downstairs in her work uniform.

"Lo siento,"

Tovah loved Tony's mom, she was so amazing, she loved her Latin roots and she truly embraced them, and Tovah loved that about her. Since Tovah was half Argentinian on her Mom's side and half Jewish on her dad's side, she really loved to embody that very powerful Latin woman that was inside of her. Tovah hadn't exactly come to really appreciate and embrace her Jewish heritage because her Dad didn't really live the lifestyle, but she still acknowledged it.

"¿Cómo está usted?" Tovah asked Mrs. Alva

"Muy bien," Mrs. Alva smiled and answered the same way she did everytime Tovah asked that question "Estoy viviendo cada día a su máxima expresión." Her smiled faltered a bit with her next question "How's your Mom?"

Tony's Mom had been asking Tovah that same question for a little over a year now. Ever since Tovah's Mom's parents had died she always asked how her Mom was. Tovah's Mother's parents grew up here in Santa Monica, and everyone knew them, they were two of the sweetest people you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. And even though they had a handful of opportunities to leave Dogtown they never did, it was forever their home.

"She's good Mrs. Alva, thanks for asking,"

"Evita," She corrected "Honey, I've known you since you were about as big as my thumb and ever since then I've been asking you to call me Evita," Evita smiled warmly at Tovah "Get it through that grande cabeza of yours,"

"It's my hair too, I've got such big hair it takes a couple times for information to sink in,"

Evita put her palms on Tovah's face, and looked right into her pupils. Evita hands were warm and her fingers smelled like spices.

"I heard about what you did to that Blanca girl," Evita paused "Serves her right."

Evita quickly turned her head to look over at Tony "You need to stay away from that loca chica hijo. You and Tovah would make a nice couple, how come you two aren't together?"

Tovah's face immediately turned a light shade of pink and she knew Evita could feel the temperature change on her palms because she released her hold the girls face.

"Basta ya ma, I think you're the crazy one telling me to go out with Tovah," Tony said as he looked directly at Tovah with a stupid smile on his face.

"I think you're both crazy with your skating hobby," Evita shook her head at the two of them

"Tovah doesn't skate," Tony, said blatantly "Well, actually she can't skate." He corrected himself

That put a smile on Evita's face "Good, your face is too pretty for riding around on those flimsy pieces of wood with wheels." Tovah shook her head and smiled at Evita.

"Ok well I have to go to work, I'll see you later Tony, don't do something stupid to make padre mad." Evita looked sternly at Tony as she said that.

"And Tovah tell your Mom I said hi." With that she made her way out the door

The two teens watched Evita walk out the door and Tony waited for the door to click shut before he spoke "Why don't we go out Tovah?" Tony questioned, "We could make such beautiful Argentinian, Mexican, Jewish babies together."

Tovah and Tony both laughed hard at the thought of dating each other, and at the thought of having a kid. The thing would drown in the mess of curls it would have.

"Yeah right Tony, Blanca would gauge my eyes out with a spoon."

Tovah glanced over at a clock hanging on the wall and realized it was getting late "I'm gonna head out Tony, I'll see you tomorrow if you go to the cove, and if you go to school."

Tovah got up and walked over to the door and saw the handle moving indicating that someone was about to walk inside. She backed up from the door and saw Kathy walk in.

"Hey Tovah," Kathy smiled at Tovah

All right, here's the thing. Kathy wasn't a bad person, shit, she was actually one of the nicest people Tovah knew, it was just the girl's she decided to surround herself with. And sure maybe Tovah had called her easy but it's not like it wasn't true.

"Hey Kath I was just about to head out, I'll see you at school tomorrow." Tovah got one foot out the door until Kathy started to talk again

"Hold up a sec, I just wanna say sorry about Blanca all the stuff she said to you was totally not cool and she really does need to learn to watch her mouth," Kathy paused for a moment "So I just wanted to say sorry for her."

Tovah inwardly groaned, why did Kathy have to be so damn nice all the time "S'cool Kathy, I mean, that's just who she is, ya know?"

Kathy nodded "I'll see you at school tomorrow,"

Tovah exited the Alva home and started on her short walk home, and on that walk home she thank. Tovah wanted so badly to hate Kathy but she just couldn't. She had never done anything to personally offend Tovah, and Kathy always tried to her hardest to go out of her way and be nice to most people. There was never this huge detest towards the female Alva until she starting giving Stacy attention. You could even say that Kathy and Tovah were friends up until she started hooking up with Stacy. And as Tovah thought about her defensive nature towards Stacy she began to think of other feelings she may have been hiding for him. But right now he was happy, he was happy with Kathy, and Tovah had to accept that. But if Kathy hurt him Tovah wouldn't have one problem telling Stacy I told you so.

On Tovah's way home from Tony's she always passed a certain alleyway, and although she had lived in Dogtown all her life, walking home at night still freaked her out. If a guy saw a girl walking down the street he wouldn't have a problem messing with her, even if she had lived here all her life. Ever since Tovah was a little girl she held her breath when she walked pass an alleyway. It's not that Tovah couldn't defend herself because, if someone did decided to fuck with her on her way home she could most likely handle him, or her. The only thing she really feared was getting a knife or a gun pulled on her.

Tovah arrived home and saw a car in their driveway, which was odd because neither her nor her Mother owned a car. It was a nice car too; I mean really nice, way too nice to be in this neck of the woods. Tovah walked inside of her home cautiously looking for the owner of the incredible car outside. Tovah didn't find anyone when she first looked around, then she walked into the kitchen and there sat who she assumed to be the owner of the car.

"Hola Tovah, this Keith," Tovah's Mom was literally glowing, no literally she had to have some sort of product on "Keith this is my daughter Tovah."

"Tovah it is so nice to finally meet you you're Mom speaks very highly of you," He held out his hand for her to shake

Tovah took the strange man's hand into her own and shook it "I wish I could say the same for you. Who are you?"

Keith chuckled and released Tovah's hand and dropped a huge verbal bomb on her "I'm your Mom's boyfriend."

Tovah nodded her head and then looked towards her Mom, she plastered on a smile and excused herself from the room. As much as Tovah would have loved to worry about her Mom's new boyfriend situation, she had a friendship to try and repair.

Tovah carried the rotary phone from her Mom's room into hers or at least as far as the cord would allow her to go. For a couple minutes she just stared at the phone contemplating all the negative things Stacy must think about her. But she had to call him and she had to do it tonight. Tovah held her breath as she waited for one of the Peralta's to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" It was Stacy's mom

"Hi Mrs. Peralta it's Tovah, is Stacy there?"

"Yes, he is just hold on one-second,"

Tovah could hear Mrs. Peralta yell for Stacey, and she heard him as he picked up the phone and held it to his ear hesitating and then finally speaking.

"Hello?"

"Hey Stace, it's Tovah you gotta minute?"

"Yeah, I guess so,"

Tovah exhaled deeply and began to talk "I'm sorry," Stacy said nothing "I know I said a lot of bitchy things about Kathy, and I didn't have any right to say that stuff, so I'm sorry." Tovah heard Stacy open his mouth to begin to say something but she cut him off. "And you're right you know," she paused trying to compose herself "I am jealous of Kathy," Tovah shocked herself by saying that out loud.

"Shit Tovah I didn't mean any of that stuff I said to you," Stacy began "I was just mad y'know all the guys had been saying stuff like that and I didn't expect to hear it from you so I got pissed." Stacy inhaled "And why are you jealous of Kathy?"

Tovah cursed inwardly "I dunno, she's just really nice to everyone and junk, and a lot of guys like her," Tovah was screaming at herself in her head, she sounded so dumb saying all of those things, but I suppose sometimes the truth does sound dumb

Stacy starting laughing "Are you stupid?" Stacy chuckled even louder "Do you know how many guys want to hook up with you?"

"What guys?!" Tovah practically screamed into the phone "And if you say Jay I'll come over to your house and punch you in the stomach."

"Lots of guys Tovah trust me,"

"Yeah okay whatever you say Stace," Tovah said, "So, we're cool now?" Tovah asked carefully

"Yeah we're good," Tovah could hear his smile over the phone

"By the way, you did really good today, I mean really, really good,"

"Thanks Tea-bag,"

"You're obnoxious," Tovah said with a smile "Whatever I'll see you tomorrow morning right?"

"Yup," Stacy said popping the 'p' in that word harshly

"Good, alright I'll talk you then, later,"

"Later,"

Tovah heard the phone click signaling the end of the call. She put the phone back down and carried it back into her mom's room. Tovah quickly looked out the window to see if "Keith" was still there, he was. He was downstairs in her kitchen in his tweed suit, chatting it up with her Mom.

Tovah shuffled back into her room, stepping over her surfboard that was lying on the floor. Tovah made her way around the perimeters of her room collecting all of the dirty clothes she had disregarded there over the past week. She made her way downstairs to throw the clothes into the wash and there they were. Sitting on the couch watching some dribble on the television. Tovah quickly turned away from the couple and made her way into the kitchen, which also served as a laundry room. The couple hadn't noticed her presence at all, either that or they were just to wrapped up in their moment to care.

Usually things like new relationships tended to come up in conversation, but apparently not with her mom. Especially when these relationships are with men with nice cars, and suits. She looked on at the couple once again with a dissatisfied look on her face. She quickly turned heel and made her way to her room, she didn't want to worry about that just now.

What the fuck is today? Tovah though First Paul, then Jay, then Mom brings home this kook? Twilight Zone bullshit. Tovah flopped down on her bed and put the needle on the Bob Dylan record that was sitting in her record player. The sweet sound of guitars greeted her when the song You're a Big Girl Now began to play.

_Our conversation was short and sweet, it nearly swept me off a my feet, and I'm back in the rain again._

Tovah glanced at the clock from her position on the bed, the hands read 10:30. She threw her legs over the bed and collected a pair of pajama shorts and a top from her drawer. She slowly crawled back into bed, flopping her head ungracefully on the pillow.

Tovah let out the deepest sigh, and began thinking of ways that she could tear down all the other girls at this surfing competition.

* * *

><p>I don't even have any excuse for not updating this story for so long, I suck.<br>I took Spanish for 6 years so I have a pretty solid handle on the language:

Translations:

"Quitar tu pies de mi mesa chica" - "Get your feet off my table girl"  
>"Lo Siento" - "Sorry"<br>"¿Cómo está usted?" - "How are you?"  
>"Muy bien" - Very good<br>"Estoy viviendo cada día a su máxima expresión." - "I'm living each day to its fullest"


End file.
